the passive endurance which is the main
element in patience, properly so called. Such passive endurance is a
large part of our duty in regard to difficulties and sorrows, but is
never the whole of it. It is something to endure and even while the
heart is breaking, to submit unmurmuring, but, transcendent as that
is, it is but half of the lesson which we have to learn and to put in
practice. For if all our sorrows have a disciplinary and educational
purpose, we shall not have received them aright, unless we have tried
to make that purpose effectual, by appropriating whatsoever moral and
spiritual teaching they each have for us. Nor does our duty stop
there. For while one high purpose of sorrow is to deaden our hearts
to earthly objects, and to lift us above earthly affections, no
sorrow can ever relax the bonds which oblige us to duty. The solemn
pressure of 'I ought,' is as heavy on the sorrowful as on the happy
heart. We have still to toil, to press forward, in the sweat of our
brow, to gain our bread, whether it be food for our bodies, or
sustenance for our hearts and minds. Our responsibilities to others
do not cease because our lives are darkened. Therefore, heavy or
light of heart, we have still to stick to our work, and though we may
never more be able to do it with the old buoyancy, still to do it
with our might.

It is that dogged persistence in plain duty, that tenacious
continuance in our course, which is here set forth as the result of
the encouragement which Scripture gives. Many of us have all our
strength exhausted in mere endurance, and have let obvious duties
slip from our hands, as if we had done all that we could do when we
had forced ourselves to submit. Submission would come easier if you
took up some of those neglected duties, and you would be stronger for
patience, if you used more of your strength for service. You do well
if you do not sink under your burden, but you would do better if,
with it on your shoulders, you would plod steadily along the road;
and if you did, you would feel the weight less. It seems heaviest
when you stand still doing nothing. Do not cease to toil because you
suffer. You will feel your pain more if you do. Take the
encouragement which Scripture gives, that it may animate you to bate
no jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward.

And let the Scripture directly minister to you perseverance as well
as indirectly supply it through the encouragement whi